We don’t celebrate 49 year anniversaries. But is 50 just a number? The echos of the past are haunting us, with politics drifting into conflicts that would meet or even surpass the standards of that tumultuous year, 1969.
And as we count down the hours and days to the 50th anniversary of the first man to walk on the lunar surface, and watch as Woodstock 50 preparations begin, and see the climate boil for one more summer of record temps, we can only look skyward to that orb of earthly dreams, and notice it’s full eclipse.
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Lunar eclipses always coincide with a full moon. Tonight, the alignment of all the necessary heavenly orbs, the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, will all collaborate to create the conditions that will yield a lunar eclipse.
Visible in Europe, Australia, Africa, and most of Asia, the Earth’s shadow will darken the moon, with a visible penumbra outer ring as well as the deep dark umbra, almost fully obscuring the moon in the area that it covers. Since it will happen during US daylight hours (starting around 3pm Eastern Daylight Time), this spectacular event will only be seen from our shores via photographic evidence, received from the countries above.
This particular eclipse will not be total, but will produce an eerie, red shade wherever the shadow, after passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, hits its target.
In the USA, however, the so-called Buck Moon will begin, post eclipse at approximately 5:38pm Eastern Time. The moonrise will commence shortly after and, should be something special to view, assuming no cloud cover. Called “Buck”, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, due to the fact that a buck’s antlers are in full growth season at the time of this, first of the summer, full moon.
If your area is clear tonight this will be a dramatic sight.
Heat, Passion, Conflict and, Hopefully Beauty to Behold
Sure it was HOT in 1969, but was it the summer with the highest temperatures in recorded climate history in France?
And, while we reflect on 1969, what about 2069? Will we remember Trump’s racist tweets? How about the New York City Blackout from last weekend? The SpaceX rocket launches? Perhaps the 7.1 earthquake that hit near L.A. on July 5th?
As the year moves on, it is certain that events of 2019 will echo, in some strange ways, those of 1969, and we may also use this 50 year span to measure how much has changed, how far we have come, and yet, how much remains the same.
We can use the Apollo Mission’s anniversary to reflect on what is new, private space missions, mars on our minds, looming climate crises and, oh yes, computers in our pockets. What’s the same? Sadly, racists and political division and mind bending change on all sides.
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